More photos » Marcio Jose Sanchez - AP

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I don't know if you've heard, but there are NBA teams in California aside from the Lakers. It's easy enough to overlook them. Collectively the Los Angeles Clippers, Golden State Warriors and Sacramento Kings are as much a source of California pride as O.J. Simpson or the state's credit rating. It's possible those three franchises exist solely to supply the Lakers with short road trips and easy wins. I'm told the league is one great conspiracy to ensure Laker championships, so I guess I'd be naïve to doubt this hypothesis.

Tonight and tomorrow, the Lakers get to snack on these tasty treats. First up in Oakland are the Golden State Warriors, followed by a visit to the state capital to face the Kings. A pair of easy wins, right? Right. I mean... probably? No, not really. I think we know by now that these are the circumstances under which the Lakers' attention starts to wander, which means one or both of these games will be closer than we'd like. The Kings especially tend to annoy by not actually rolling over when they're supposed to. I wish they'd stop that.

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More photos » Matt York - AP

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Well, look who hasn't disappeared down the lottery hole. It's the Phoenix Suns, who despite surrendering headline space to sexier Western Conference teams are still chugging toward the playoffs. On January 26, they lost at home to Charlotte to fall to 26-21. It was their 8th loss in 11 games, and it looked at that point as if they were ready to pack it up, trade Amare Stoudemire for whatever they could get and call it a season. Surprise, surprise: they've instead gone 14-4 since then. Amare's still on the payroll, and Phoenix is in a de facto tie for the fifth seed in the West. That's some nice work.

Tonight they welcome the Los Angeles Lakers to US Airways Center. As you've probably heard, the Lakers have been stanky bad on the road lately. In calendar year 2010, they've lost 11 of 19 away from Staples. Their last road win was on Kobe Bryant's dagger three in Memphis in his first game back from injury. How long ago does that feel?

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So, I have some good news for you, and some bad news.  Seeing that we've had enough bad news the past two nights, I should do you a favor and give you the good stuff first.  But unlike our Lakers, I'll give you a heads up and let you know the crap is coming first.

Fresh off back to back losses, in which defense and effort were non-existent, respectively, the Lakers get a Sunday afternoon marquee against Finals opponent, the Orlando Magic.  For those of you who feel the Lakers are just bored and riding it out until the Playoffs, this is the perfect game to peak L.A.'s interest.  Nothing like a nationally televised game against a contender to wash away the stink of two bad losses.  Considering how bad the Lakers were on Thursday and Friday, it sure better be the case.  Play bad, then worse, then the Magic?  Whoo-hoo!

That's not really the bad news though.  The game's on ABC.  That means we have to listen to two and a half hours  of Mark Jackson, Jeff Van Gundy and Mike Breen bore us to death with their shtick about the Lakers' lack of focus.    Or Lack of fire.  Passion.  Energy.  Whatever.   All of that, plus Jackson's repeated sayings and overstatements that would make Bill Walton blush, Jeff Van Gundy's tangents, and Mike Breen's lack of enthusiasm for the big plays.  This is after the treat (sarcasm) of Stu Scott, Mike Wilbon, and Jon Barry.  Yay.  I'm thinking it's time to get acquainted with the mute button.  I mean it this time.

Some kind of good news after the Jump...

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More photos » Mark J. Terrill - AP

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You want to be cool, don't you?

When the month of March comes to an end, the Lakers on the season will have played more road games than home. They'll finally have cured the imbalance in their schedule created when they enjoyed 17 of their first 21 games amid the comforts of Staples Center. To get to that point four weeks hence, they'll spend a lot of time in distant, unfriendly locales. The Lakers will see their home fans only three times this month, against 11 true road contests (which is to say, none of them is against the Clippers). The safari around the league begins with a back-to-back against the Miami Heat tonight and the Charlotte Bobcats tomorrow.

Taking stock of the big picture: the Lakers have effectively wrapped up home-court advantage in the West and lurk 1½ games (plus a tiebreaker) behind Cleveland. To finish with the league's best record, they'll probably need at least 63 wins. That requires them to go at least 17-4 the rest of the way. The schedule isn't wall-to-wall with top opponents, but there are a half-dozen or so games against, say, the best third of the league.

In other words, if the Lakers do aspire to HCA throughout the Finals, it's not a terrible stretch to say that tonight and tomorrow nights' games are must-wins.

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More photos » Darron Cummings - AP

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Can we stipulate that the Indiana Pacers are the least consequential NBA franchise of 2010? I honestly can't conjure a prominent storyline about this season that involved the Pacers. They aren't a playoff contender. They sent no one to the All-Star Game. They have no exciting young players. (Danny Granger is almost 27. He's nearly two years older than LeBron James.) They weren't active at the trade deadline. They aren't a big cap-space team gearing up for the summer free-agent jamboree.

What they are is bad at professional basketball. They shuffle timidly into Staples tonight owners of 20 whole wins. When they fall to the Lakers, as they naturally will because are you GD kidding me, it'll be their 40th loss of the year. To put that in perspective: if you add up every game the Lakers have lost this season, last postseason and last regular season, you get to 40 exactly.

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Chris Carlson - AP

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This weekend's main event is on Sunday afternoon. That's when the Denver Nuggets plop into town and we all get to spend a few hours detesting J.R. Smith. Can't wait! Before we sink our claws into that particular chew toy, however, there's a win scheduled for tonight over the Philadelphia 76ers. Casually abusing Eastern Conference peasantry is always a nice way to unwind after a tough week in the office.

The Sixers have been playing out the string since about mid-December. They're destined for the lottery, but they're not so bad that they can feasibly dream about John Wall. They have no franchise players but are capped out through next year. Even the nostalgic charms of Allen Iverson have disappeared from their lives, as he's out indefinitely to be with his ailing daughter.

Getting drilled by the Lakers tonight really can't make their season that much worse.

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More photos » Wong Maye-E - AP

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By the time the Lakers tip off in Memphis tonight, it'll have been nearly five full earth rotations since they last played. That's like a second All-Star break. At least it's given Kobe Bryant's hurtful left ankle time to heal. According to anyone saying anything on the subject, it really seems like he's going to play tonight. I know we had a false positive on his readiness last week, and it's not I waterboarded any of these sources to see if they were telling the truth, but I suspect that if Kobe does not, against all expectations, take the court against the Grizzlies in a few hours, there'll be some dismembered Laker trainers lying around.

The loss to the Boston Celtics last Thursday probably smoothes Kobe's return a little bit. There's going to be a lot of discussion about how he reintegrates with the other regulars, but the analysis would trend even more nitpicky if the Lakers had been 5-0 in his absence. Even accounting for the Celtic loss, the team's play in those five games was excellent. Especially on defense, they hit new high notes for the season, and though some regression is likely, you'd like to see that asskicking more or less continue.

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And it's a tasty, must-see game at that. Visiting Staples tonight are the Boston Celtics, ancient enemies of the Lakers and forever the object of our loathing. Perhaps you're familiar with their work? We saw them up close back on January 31 in a grinding battle that the Lakers won 90-89. Kobe Bryant, though he had a poor game overall, hit this shot to put the Lakers ahead with 7.3 seconds left, and then Ray Allen missed a potential game-winner as the clock ran out. Hee hee! My favorite part was when the Lakers won.

Kobe, from the looks of it, is unlikely to play tonight. His left ankle just isn't there yet. The Lakers don't play again until next Tuesday in Memphis, so assuming he returns for that one (and there's no guarantee of that) he'll have enjoyed a full 18 days of rest. I suspect the Celtics aren't taking tremendous comfort from Kobe's probable absence, as the Lakers have proven they can beat blue-chip opponents without him, and the Celts have vulnerabilities of their own.

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